title: Maintained hand function and forearm bone health 14 months after an in-home virtual-reality videogame hand telerehabilitation intervention in an adolescent with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.
abstract: Virtual reality videogames can be used to motivate rehabilitation, and telerehabilitation can be used to improve access to rehabilitation. These uses of technology to improve health outcomes are a burgeoning area of rehabilitation research. So far, there is a lack of reports of long-term outcomes of these types of interventions. The authors report a 15-year-old boy with hemiplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy because of presumed perinatal stroke who improved his plegic hand function and increased his plegic forearm bone health during a 14-month virtual reality videogame hand telerehabilitation intervention. A total of 14 months after the intervention ended, repeat evaluation demonstrated maintenance of both increased hand function and forearm bone health. The implications of this work for the future of rehabilitation in children with neurological disabilities are discussed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA. mgolomb@iupui.edu
authors.forename: Meredith R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Golomb
authors.forename: Stuart J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Warden
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fess
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rabin
authors.forename: Janell
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yonkman
authors.forename: Bridget
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shirley
authors.forename: Grigore C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Burdea
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D050280:Arm Bones / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D018910:Video Games